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Alpha Women – Part Two

I recently posted a blog discussing Alpha women in our society, those women whose traits of leadership, self-esteem, and high emotional intelligence lift them up to shine above the crowd. And there are many of them! In fact, I soon realized there are now so many DARE-ing and powerful Alpha women in our country that I needed a part two to this blog. It could make an entire book, for which I am incredibly grateful and proud!

Connie Britton

Here are more inspiring over-50 Alpha women across the breadth of industry and entertainment.

Denise Morrison, new CEO of Campbell Soup Company, whose acquisitions have fortified the venerable firm known so well for its tomato soup, by expanding into organic lines. Morrison has also dared to streamline operations by cutting jobs and eliminating redundancies throughout the company.

Connie Britton as “aging” (she’s 45!) country star Rayna James on ABC’s new show,Nashville, has been called the number-one reason to watch the show. Britton is no stranger to playing the Alpha-wife character to an equally Alpha-guy. But her character in Nashville is also dealing with a gut-wrenching career crisis, in that she refuses to heed her record label’s deal to relegate herself to being an opening act for a 20-something starlet to increase ticket sales. To compound that situation, she is navigating a crisis between the questionable ethics of her slithery father and her husband (with whom she has two children and shares a rambling comfortable home). As if that weren’t enough, Rayna is carrying a torch for her troubled but uber-talented musical partner, while laying down the law regarding future contracts together. This plot arc is not so much a suds-fest as what many career women over 40 face when they realize the dreams and desires of their twenties sometimes morph into the nightmares and obsessions of their forties, if they’re not careful and, yes, Alpha about how they Deal. Not only does Rayna Deal in a strong but gracious Alpha way with her first and perhaps true Mr. Right, but she has to deal bravely and stealthily with the husband viewers now know is just “Mr. Right Now.” Go, Rayna, go!

Ginny Rometty, CEO of IBM, who bucked the “move to improve” career advice many women receive early on and instead remained with IBM for more than two decades in key sales and marketing roles. Along the way, she enlisted the right mentors to champion and guide her, eventually being tapped for the top job overseeing one of the historically male bastions of industry.

Christine Baranski

Christine Baranski as law firm CEO/senior partner Diana Lockharton CBS’s hit,The Good Wife, personifies some of the most real-life executives I know who are dealing with the internal weaknesses of their firms coupled with external competitors threatening their enterprises and their very careers. She is the quintessential strategist and ultimate Alpha Woman leading and performing at her highest levels. That her character’s particular talent is lawyering doesn’t limit her relevance to any woman manager in any professional service firm, whether in accounting, advertising, marketing, or human resources consulting. On top of all that, she has a wicket sense of humor, can smell a traitor from miles away, and holds her own in romantic encounters with the gorgeous brainy men Alpha enough to woo her.

It is gratifying, even thrilling, that Alpha women are well represented in our lives. Ask any confident woman over 40, and especially those of us over 50, whether we want to be 25 anymore. No way! Nor do we live with dozens of cats – old clichés! Imagine that some people told Adweek it’s just “wishful thinking” that women over 50 are Alpha!

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About Liz Weinmann

Elizabeth (Liz) DiMarco Weinmann is the author of "Get DARE From Here!™ - 12 Principles and Practices for Women Over 40 to Take Stock, Take Action and Take Charge of the Rest Of Their Lives." Get DARE From Here!™ is for all women over 40 who are fed up with being called cougars, cobras and crones, and who want instead to mash the myths, bash the biases and slam the stereotypes.

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